Freedom Investment Management Inc. Purchases 3,910 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Freedom Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 30,917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,910 shares during the period. Freedom Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,227,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 57,539,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,288,347,000 after purchasing an additional 895,884 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,215,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,794,164,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731,003 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 22,341,213 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $886,499,000 after purchasing an additional 601,211 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,042,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $676,264,000 after purchasing an additional 59,853 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 23.6% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 16,260,822 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $646,693,000 after purchasing an additional 3,109,197 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $47.76 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $42.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.87. The firm has a market cap of $366.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Bank of America Co. has a one year low of $29.32 and a one year high of $47.98.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 37.82%.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total transaction of $369,952,591.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 766,305,462 shares in the company, valued at $32,606,297,408.10. This represents a 1.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In the last three months, insiders sold 77,946,615 shares of company stock worth $3,152,226,690. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on BAC shares. StockNews.com raised Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays boosted their price target on Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Phillip Securities raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, October 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.26.

Bank of America Company Profile

Bank of America Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides banking and financial products and services for individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses, institutional investors, large corporations, and governments worldwide. It operates in four segments: Consumer Banking, Global Wealth & Investment Management (GWIM), Global Banking, and Global Markets.